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I’m still in the process of pondering the blog name change like I told you last week. Alicia, thank you sweetly for your precious opinion.

Life in January is filled with little drops of happiness. I look for them. I hunger for them. So I had one today. Look at my Instagram and you’ll see a pic of the smiley me with a coffee that a client brought as he came to class.

Now, let’s relax with that coffee (or whatever makes you feel precious and warm inside) and talk about things that matter. Let’s exchange and in the process be boosted.

I’m a person who loves pretty clothes – definitely pink – knowing about trends and creating glamorous outfits. These all add a nice extra taste to my days. That said, I am also someone who is quite sensitive emotionally. I need to be able to express how I feel at regular intervals. Sometimes I find this to be too much. I’d like to be less soft-hearted. I’d like to be tougher. When the going gets more intense, we all look for strong pillars around us. We appreciate people who don’t panic. I have that attitude in me – I am sure – I just need to consciously lure it out.

How can one gain more emotional stability? First, you have to relax. You have to find a feeling of trust in life. That hot-chocolate comforting, pancake smelling sentiment that “yep, I’ll be OK”. You have to determine where you can find it. My safety assurance is my faith in Jesus. God made this world, so he is able to protect me.

Once your safe base is found, you have to learn to remind yourself to go back there. These things don’t come automatically, especially after years of opposite, read anxious, behavior. It’s alright to catch yourself worrying. But act as soon as you can. I find going out for a walk, reading something captivating or talking with someone who really listens to me soothing.

I also remind myself that “this too will pass”. Sometimes things that are there here and now seem so dramatic. Yet when the sun rises again, the effect will already have lessened. You do something you regret. OK, that’s human. Don’t beat yourself up for it longer than five minutes. You go thru it, think how you’ll learn from it and then push yourself to forget all ruminating. Sometimes I feel tense around other people – social anxiety they call it – even if I don’t want to. I hate that and scold myself for it hours beyond the event. What if I just said “I wish I could be more true to my real inner being, which I believe to be a confident girl. Next time I’ll have a fresh new opportunity to let more of true me come out”.

I just had to experience this! My wish for my birthday. A Sex and the City Hotspots Tour in NYC. I realized that regardless of having watched the series and movies at least twice if not three times thru, I wasn’t as tuned in into the details of it all as were some other chicks on the bus. Nevertheless, it was a blast – taking in as much as I wanted of the knicks and knakcs of info and then just enjoying the atmosphere, and seeing Manhattan from a new perspective.

We stopped where the girls first encountered the Vibrator Bunny. Then we got to take a look at the insides of one of the restaurants where Carrie and the gang often met for delicious food and even more delicious lip talk. We had pink cupcakes in the Meatpacking District – Samantha’s stomping ground – and sipped Manhattan’s best Cosmos at a chic bar. The look on the guys faces when they saw a bus full of trendy chicks embank the joint! Single men, look the place up…

I got to enjoy all the fun with my NYC bestie. It was cool how our lives and stories, catching up on the latest, sharing advice and so on, intertwined with the tour. Three and a half hours later, when dropped off in Midtown, I felt refreshed and encouraged. Fiction had brought groove to my current daily life. It was there to help me find the sweetness in what I was doing here and now.

That is the positive way how we should use media – TV shows, blogs, Instagram feed, you name it. Being mindful about it supporting our lives, not pulling us down into comparing our lives to imagined or beautified stories. Life in Manhattan will never be as Manolo-blahniki-sugarcoated as it is for Carrie and Co. on the screen. Yet true life can be sweeter if we spice it up with a good amount of fiction. The way we perceive a situation can make a huge difference.

I try to be ‘clean’ about my media use. I take turns in using Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. I don’t try to do all at once. I watch TV in the evenings after my sports are done. When I dive back into Sex and the City, it is more like a scented candle, focusing on the ambiance rather than one specific detail. I try to soak in the girls’ fearless and funky attitude.

And then there are days when I light a cinnamon candle and I enjoy a little bit of good old journaling and fashion magazine reading. This is mindful media enjoyment – I try to be tuned into what I need at this very moment in order to be at my best.

My bestie Elodie and I took a day trip to Montreal. One Sunday as we met at Starbucks, I was a bit under the weather and Elodie came up with the idea. She picked me up in the morning and we rode and babbled the three hours that it takes from Quebec City to hit the Southern metropolis.

We did see a fashion and craft exhibition but the best offerings were found at the conference center which happened to host a fashion and handmade products fair. The above are soaps – the smells were delish!

A kiss… A smack… the French way! It is Montreal after all. I get a kick out of geometrical things like these. My Scandinavian side maybe. Pure lines entice me.

Chocolate therapy… or is it the shoe one? Shopaholic or chocaholic – choose your camp, or not.

A girls’ day is always such a booster. Seeing pretty things and having the time just to be together. We grabbed a leisurely lunch and took the time to linger on in the city.

Capturing the moment – you, (sex?) and the City. I love the concept. I’m a sucker for pics, anyway. You know that by now.

We also bumped into a fashion show. A sure treat for this fashionista. The clothes weren’t that “state of the art” but I appreciate any fashion happening flowing my way.

Elodie all smiles as usual! I love her bubbly energy. Cozy and chic in her earmuffs. Remember – we got them together.

My another guilty pleasure – fur. Faux by preference, may that be mentioned. Should I come across any softy hairy stuff, I just have to fidget.

Here. Now. Happy. That’s already a big victory.

A smack to you my dear reader! What are things that make your life sweeter?

Boston is a real tea party place. I like the NYC-kind East Coast vibes – but with a higher sense of security and sophistication. I followed the Red Trail that takes you to all historical sights. I shopped some snazzy shoes and popped in at Mike’s, a famous Italian pastry shop. Picture below with the Sweets and the sweet.

Here is Jason Wu’s this season’s collection – good girl gone bad, but just a pinch. A-line flowy hems. Airy textures. Skin kissing softness. “I wanted to make a collection that sort of balanced, just teetered on that line, of sexy but still sophisticated,” Wu said. So down this Susu’s style alley…

I have gotten more clients for my company. It’s sweet to see my business develop. Working for myself feels more fulfilling. There is more purpose to my doings. Regularly, I try to stop and ponder upon how my life is today. More relaxed compared to a few years back. I have space to do meaningful work. I have more control over my schedule. I have time to be creative – write about fashion and do art.

Listing all the sweet tiny things that I am surrounded by, and trying to remember not to stay depressed when the tough moment hits. Feeling super happy, and then quite sad. But joy will win. I’ve decided. Love you, for being here, for sharing my little life!